Is the 5 USB Mac Mini a fake? — So, one of our readers, Dave - who happens to be an expert at PCB design, has spent some time looking at the Mac Mini image posted today and he believes it is a fake. There have been many posts around the web on why. — Firstly, the dispersion of artifacts isn't consistant with an unedited image:

Look who leaked U2's new album — U2 and, inset, the cover of No Line On The Horizon. — Asher Moses — Full CD-quality copies of every song on U2's upcoming album, No Line On The Horizon, have been leaked on to the web after Universal Music Australia accidentally put it up for sale on its online music store two weeks early.

Commenting with Facebook Connect — Since Facebook Connect launched, we've seen over 6,000 developers make their sites more social using Facebook Connect. One of the most common features we've seen sites add with Facebook Connect is the ability to allow users to log in with a single click …

Test Updates for Windows 7 Beta Users — Starting February 24, we will be releasing up to 5 test updates to PCs running the Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) via Windows Update. These updates allow us to test and verify our ability to deliver and manage the updating of Windows 7.

Hackers target Xbox Live players — Xbox Live is being targeted by malicious hackers selling services that kick players off the network. — The booting services are proving popular with players who want a way to get revenge on those who beat them in an Xbox Live game.

How Google and Facebook are using R — Last night, I moderated our Bay Area R Users Group kick-off event with a panel discussion entitled “The R and Science of Predictive Analytics”, co-located with the Predictive Analytics World conference here in SF. — The panel comprised of four recognized R users from industry:

Cable providers eye offering TV shows online: report — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc are talking with owners of major cable television networks about ways to give cable subscribers online access to much of the networks' programing, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Pirate Bay Trial Day 5: Peter's “Political Trial” — Friday, the fifth day of the trial and Peter Sunde, aka brokep, is being questioned by the Prosecution. Håkan Roswall started off by asking Peter if he ever had dealings with The Pirate Bay's (TPB) computer systems - Peter said he did, but in a limited fashion.

Sprint Shares Skyrocket 20% on Palm Pre Deal — Sprint [PALM Loading... () ], which also reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday, saw its shares rise leap almost 20 percent to $3.25 Thursday. — The person, who asked not to be named, said the exclusivity period …

Online Dating: Analyzing the Algorithms of Attraction — Just how do eHarmony, Plenty of Fish, True.com and PerfectMatch.com work under the hood? — Recommends — When Joe wanted to find love, he turned to science. — Rather than hang out in bars or hope that random dates worked out …

Parents Give Up Facebook for Lent — They're a little too old to give up potato chips, Guitar Hero or Red Bull for Lent. — But as Christian parents ponder an appropriate sacrifice, they find themselves mulling a choice they'd have once seen as preposterous: A Facebook fast — not for their teens but for themselves.

Yelp Disputes Extortion Story — Yelp is denying reports that its sales reps tried to get money out of local business owners in exchange for minimizing negative ratings on the popular site. — On Thursday, the East Bay Express, an alternative weekly in Emeryville, Calif. …

Microsoft aims to build a better thesaurus — A team of researchers at Microsoft is looking to beat Roget at his own game. — Aiming to build a better thesaurus, the Writing Assistance project within Microsoft's research unit is tapping techniques developed to translate from one language to another.

CBS Strikes Back at Hulu — Is this the start of a Web video war? — A day after news broke that Hulu had pulled its video content from CBS Corp.'s TV.com because of “contractual” issues, CBS fought back with a statement declaring its own rights. — “CBS Interactive is well within …